From overwhelmed to organized: tech tools & you (yes you)

Just like the word conflict can arouse all sorts of horrible, awful, nasty feelings, so can the word … (are you ready?) …. technology / tech tools.

Technology, whether it’s your best friend of foe, is ALL around us 24/7.

I’m guessing it’s more the latter. You probably don’t have to cast you mind back too far to remember a time when using a tech tool made you want to hit your computer screen (or worse).

For about a decade now I’ve taught organizations & individuals how to use tech tools for: 1) ease & efficiency 2) learning & communication, & 3) listening & research.

Can you guess which category is the most popular?

Yep.

Ease & efficiency.

Tech tools that bring about ease & efficiency as always super popular.

I love nothing more than the sighs of delight accompanied by eyebrows arching heavenward with surprise that it*can*be*that*easy.

Pick the right tech tool for the right job & you go from tech toil & trouble to transfixed & transported.

You go from overwhelmed to organized.

Take a deep breath. Yeahhhhh.

Okay you may be saying, that maybe, possibly sounds good but give me some examples. You asked, I answered.

Here are 10 ways I’ve been consciously harnessing the power of tech. Five are business examples & 5 are personal.

Examples of how I use tech in my business:

1. I use tech when I teach my face to face workshops in order to make learning pop, for example using online, real time polling
2. Tech tools help me with my biz development; I use tools to track my projects & ideas
3. When I teach online, I use tools that allow for small group discussion e.g. you divide the large group into smaller groups, just like you’d do in a face to face workshop with me
4. I use a tech tool to share all the tasks I need my VA (virtual assistant) to do & in what order of priority
5. Several tech tools help me easily track, tag & be able to share my online resources with folks like you.

Examples of how I use tech in my personal life:

6. Recently one of my kiddos was going through a bit of a rough time. As he’s studying a world away from me, I made him an online crossword puzzle with all the things I love about him plus inspirational quotes.
7. I’m joining my mom in Spain for a week of mom & daughter time & I’m using tech tools to track our logistics, things to do & more
8. Being the learning junkie I am, I listen to podcasts daily for pleasure & PD (professional development)
9. Years of complicated, lengthy family medical records are all sorted, organized & easy to share (privately) online with professional health care peeps
10. I use various calendars including 1 I share with my hubs so we both know when we’re travelling, when social events are etc.

What about you?

Here are some signs that you may be in need of some respite via tech tools:

• Repetition: there’s a number of things that you do over & over & would dearly love to have some tools to take that over.
• Searching: you have a hard time finding stuff. “Bat balls! Where is that amazing video I watched just yesterday?”
• Sharing: no matter your intentions, you have a hard time sharing stuff. “Funky fiddles! I found the perfect article for my bestie/colleague/boss but it’s too much of a hassle to share it.”
• Learning: you don’t have a lot of time for learning. You need bite sized morsels of learning that are ready when you are & can be consumed on the go.
• Adventure: you want to have fun, feel in control, & explore what the tech tool world has to offer.

How’d you do? How many of the above resonated?

Hang on a second though. If you’re like many of the folks I work with, you may face another hurdle when it comes to tech. You have to put aside feelings such as:

• I can’t do it
• It’s too hard
• It doesn’t apply to me
• I’m going to embarrass myself

Believe you me, you can do it. Tech doesn’t have to be hard, it does apply to you & you aren’t going to embarrass yourself.

Why?

Because when I’m looking for tools to share with you, I look for the following:

• Tools that are convenient: they bring ease & efficiency
• Tools where the learning curve is almost non-existent (e.g. you’ll be up & running super fast) &
• Tools that are free!

Still a non-believer? Here’s one easy tech tool example.

• Ever get that frigging form emailed to you that you have to sign but it’s a PDF & you loathe having to download it, sign it, & upload it again?
• Ever try to send a big PDF file that bounces because the file size is too big?
• Ever need to divvy up a PDF or combine PDFs?

I’ve got you covered. This tool does almost anything with PDFs except make cappuccino.

It’s called smallpdf.com.

It’ll do all the above & more.

Yes it’ll convert that PDF into a word doc so you can fill it in & send it back without ever having to download & scan.

Yes it’ll crunch your biggest PDF file into a manageable, email ‘able size.

Yes it’ll take apart a PDF & put together PDFs. And more.

Go from feeling controlled by tech to in the driver’s seat (or bicycle seat as the case may be).

Have I whetted your appetite? Join me for my “From Overwhelm to Organized; Technology Tips & Techniques to Serve You” online workshop November 8 @ 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm EAT.